A Little R & R
by Macx
Summary: Working in a calm environment relaxes Charles. Erik is surprised to discover his partner's new 'hobby'. Shifter 'verse AU


Ah, another one! This one's a bit calmer compared to Unbroken. So I give you a fluffy little ficlet.

TITLE: A Little R&R  
>Shifter 'verse<br>AUTHOR: Macx  
>RATING: PG-13<br>DISCLAIMER: None of the characters belong to me, sadly. They are owned by people with a lot more money :)  
>FEEDBACK: Loved<br>BETA: elfin

"What are you doing?"

Charles looked up from his work, giving Erik a wide smile. A happy smile, the Shark noticed. Happiness was radiating off the other man like warmth off the sun.

Dressed in old jeans, a too large flannel shirt – sleeves rolled up - with a t-shirt underneath, and work boots, Charles didn't look anything like the scholar he normally portrayed. Usually he wore suit pants and a vest and those crisp shirts. Erik kept teasing him about his stuffy outfit, but in a way that was Charles. Seeing him in a t-shirt was unusual, unless they were at the beach and ready to hit the water.

Now… now Erik saw him in something that made the other man look even younger than he really was. Like Charles' kid brother if he had one.

Add to that the paint on the clothes, on his exposed skin, in his hair, and he wasn't Professor Charles Xavier. Not at all.

"Painting," Charles now answered his partner's questions.

"Painting," Erik repeated. "Why?"

Charles shrugged. "They needed help. I was around. And it's relaxing."

Erik tilted his head, looking at the sideboard Charles had apparently sanded down and was now painting white. A chair that had already been painted red was drying not far away.

Yes, it seemed to relax his lover. As a telepath Charles was very receptive and Erik had learned early on that shields were something Charles needed each and every day. Sometimes they had to be stronger, sometimes light ones were enough. The more people, the stronger the shields. With Erik, the rat Shifter had started to anchor in the other mind. It had been strange at first, knowing that he, a predator, a waterbound, a loner for such a long time, had been Charles' chosen anchor. When they were together, the telepath was simply always close. Erik found it almost comforting; he knew where the other man was, how he felt, how much he needed the grounding effect of the Shark's mind.

"Physical work relaxes you?"

"Working in such a calm environment relaxes me." Charles turned back to his current project, smooth and calm strokes with a brush on wood painting the sideboard white.

Erik watched him, then finally sat down on the stairs of the old house the furniture belonged to. It was a clapboard style house, L-shaped and had probably two or three bedrooms. Someone else had painted it a burgundy red with green trim around the windows, and green shutters. Like many homes in Westchester it was a renovation project and coming along nicely. Many had yet to get painted and all over the growing town people were working.

Like Charles.

Who had left the manor early in the morning with the latest load of donated furniture and had ended up helping out wherever a pair of able hands were needed.

Erik smiled when Charles stepped back from the finished sideboard, looking pleased and proud.

"What's next?" the Shark asked.

Charles closed the paint tin and wiped his hands. "Done. I promised to stop by the Kitchen and try Rosa's stew later. Want to come?"

Rosa wasn't Cursed, but her cousin Irene had been and had been killed because people had been afraid. Someone had killed her because they had been afraid of a young woman with scaly skin and lizard eyes. She had had no other powers; she had simply looked different. Rosa had come to Westchester to help those who would let her help.

"I could eat."

Charles smiled brightly at him. Like a little kid. Erik felt a wave of affection for the other Shifter, something he had been scared of years ago when he had first experienced it. Now it was simply an expression of their connection, of what they were, of how much he wanted and needed this man.

The Shark got up when Charles walked over to him, pulling him into a gentle, loving kiss.

Erik felt the ocean close by. Just a thought away. Westchester had been a fishing community and many of the mutants who had come here, together with non-mutants, were attempting to revive that. Lobsters and clams and fish. Just two streets down and they would be at the docks.

Charles smiled as he caught those thoughts. "It's a nice day for a swim."

Nice for an east coast day. Smooth sea, the sun was out, but the water was cold and no one in his right mind would go swimming unless they were either a waterbound Shifter or a mutant who didn't feel the cold. Charles was neither, but he had a diving suit for both his shapes.

Erik felt happiness course through him. He easily translated those casual words. Charles was offering to come with him, and swimming in his shark form was only surpassed by taking his lover along, whether in his Shifter form or as a human.

He kissed him again; hard, needy, loving, thankful. Charles wrapped his arms around, his mind seeking the same nearness.

::I love you:: Erik sent.

Charles' warmth was everywhere, reflecting those emotions, strong and unwavering.

Someone cleared his throat and Charles laughed softly when he found Wanda Maximoff leaning against the railing of the burgundy house. Wanda was a tall woman with naturally pale skin and dark brown, curly hair that spilled out over her shoulders almost to the middle of her back. She was a mutant and had been one of the first to move to Westchester with her twin brother Pietro.

"Looks like you're done," she remarked. "Or just about to get started." She winked.

Erik rolled his eyes. Wanda was a powerful mutant, able to influence reality to a degree. She didn't change the world, but she could make a person believe that someone or something wasn't really there. It was how she and her brother had survived for so long. They hid in plain sight. But with every power came a downside, and Wanda's was that her hexes took a great deal out of her mentally. Charles had told Erik that she had been close to a mental breakdown when she had arrived, her powers on the frizz and Charles had spent long hours talking to her in the beginning, calming her.

Erik had felt the fringe eddies of those sessions, but he had never asked. Being Charles' anchor had become even more important in those times. The other Shifter had been undergoing a lot of mental stress himself and Erik had been a very much needed healing factor after each talk.

Now Wanda was stable, had a life in Westchester, and she and her brother had found a home.

"Anything you want?" Erik now asked, though not unkindly.

"I was just wondering about the surge of energy from my backyard." Wanda smiled more. "Now I know. Thank you for your help, Charles."

"My pleasure. Thank you for letting me."

Wanda inclined her head, then walked back inside after another pointed look at Erik, who shook his head.

"Let's go," Charles only said, tugging him toward the docks.

The Shark shivered at the prospect of diving together.

x x x x

And they were together, a gray-black shark, a powerful, streamlined predator of the sea. And a human form in a diver's suit. Erik felt human fingers brush over his skin, holding on to his dorsal fin as he swam. Very much aware of how much air his partner had, Erik lazily swum into the depth, delighting in the caress of human fingers, covered in the safety and warmth of neoprene, over his skin.  
> <p>


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